Commuter town

A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many other terms: "bedroom community" (Canada and northeastern US), "bedroom town", "bedroom suburb" (US), "dormitory town" (UK). The term "exurb" was used from the 1950s, but since 2006, is generally used for areas beyond suburbs and specifically areas less densely built than the suburbs to which the residents of exurbs commute.

Causes

Commuter towns may form when workers in a region cannot afford to live where they work and must seek residency in another town with a lower cost of living. The late 20th century, the dot-com bubble and United States housing bubble drove housing costs in Californian metropolitan areas to historic highs, spawning exurban growth in adjacent counties. Workers with jobs in San Francisco found themselves moving further and further away to nearby cities like Oakland, Burlingame, and San Mateo. As rental and housing costs kept increasing, even renters that would normally be considered affluent elsewhere would struggle with the prospect of home ownership in an area with higher quality schools and amenities. As of 2003, over 80% of the workforce of Tracy, California, was employed in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Other commuter towns are formed with the intention of the municipality focusing on residential areas and limiting commercial development, to attract families who want to establish long-term communities and/or minimize perceived problems with commercial development.